-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Was Barack Obama really born in America ?

A new CNN investigation reveals what most analysts have been saying since the `` birther '' controversy erupted during the 2008 presidential campaign : Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4 , 1961 . Period .

While the president has made light of the controversy , the question remains political red meat for some of his critics . A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showed that nearly 75 % of Americans believe Obama was definitely or probably born in the United States . More than four in 10 Republicans , however , believe he probably or definitely was not born in America .

Evidence again shows Obama born in Hawaii

The U.S. Constitution says only `` natural born '' citizens can become president -- a vague clause that some members of the birther movement contend disqualifies Obama because , they insist , he was born outside the United States .

Skeptics contend , among other things , that Obama was born in his father 's home country of Kenya . Potential GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump recently seized on the issue , saying he had doubts about Obama 's background .

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CNN investigators in Honolulu found nothing to reinforce those doubts .

Dr. Chiyome Fukino , a former director of the Hawaii Department of Health and a Republican , told CNN in her most extensive comments to date that she has `` no doubt '' Obama was born in the state .

Obama 's 2008 campaign produced a certification of live birth , a document legally accepted as confirmation of a birth and routinely used for official purposes . Fukino went one step further , taking advantage of a state law that allows certain public officials to examine a person 's actual birth certificate if there is a `` direct and tangible interest . ''

The president 's certificate , she said , is stored in a vault in the building that houses the Department of Health . Ironically , unlike the certificate of live birth , it is no longer accepted for official usage .

Obama 's certificate is `` absolutely authentic , '' she said . `` He was absolutely born here in the state of Hawaii . ''

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To see what happens when someone born in Hawaii requests a birth certificate , CNN asked a current resident of the state -- Stig Waidelich -- if he could get a copy of the document .

Waidelich was born hours after Obama in August 1961 . Like Obama , Waidelich 's birth was announced at the time in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper .

Waidelich , like Obama in 2008 , was given a certification of live birth in response to his request .

Could Obama 's 1961 birth announcement in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin be a fake ? Some conspiracy theorists say yes . Longtime Honolulu newspaper reporter Dan Nakaso says no .

`` It 's not possible , '' Nakaso said . `` Under the system that existed back then , there was no avenue for people to submit information that way . ... The information came directly from the state Department of Health . ''

Indeed , as CNN confirmed , all birth announcements at the time came directly from hospital birth records .

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Could Obama , a self-proclaimed Christian , be preventing the distribution of copies of the original birth certificate because it identifies him as a Muslim ?

Fukino says no . The original certificate includes no mention of the president 's religion . And indeed , other original certificates from that time do n't mention faith .

Obama could file a Freedom of Information Act request to view his original birth certificate and make copies . But at this point , the White House maintains , nothing will satisfy the doubters .

Rick Smethurst , a 2008 John McCain voter who now lives in Obama 's childhood home in Hawaii , counts himself among the doubters . He said he wants to find someone who saw Obama immediately after the president was born .

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said he did . Abercrombie , a Democrat , was friendly with Ann Dunham , Obama 's mother , and remembers celebrating the birth .

`` Of course , we had no idea at the time that the future president of the United States was that little boy , that little baby , '' Abercrombie recalled . But `` we are very , very happy ... that took place . ''

Professor Alice Dewey of the University of Hawaii was a faculty adviser to Dunham and also knew the future president when he was a child . She called the controversy `` funny . '' She said there is `` no way '' Obama was n't born in the state .

Dewey remembered a conversation in which Dunham compared the birth of Obama with that of his sister , Maya , who was born overseas .

`` She said , ` When I had Maya , it was a lot of more difficult because Indonesia does n't believe in painkillers while you 're giving birth . ... Of course , in the United States , giving birth to Barry -LRB- Obama 's childhood nickname -RRB- was quite different and much more comfortable , ' '' Dewey recalled .

Waidelich 's mother , Monika , said she believes she saw Obama in Honolulu 's Kapi'olani Medical Center next to her son in 1961 .

`` In those days , there were hardly any other black babies , '' she said .

The hospital would n't show patient records from 1961 , but the state 's African-American population was less than 1 % at the time .

Regardless of the evidence , there may be no convincing some of those who question the president 's origins .

`` I find it a bit amusing in the sense that -LRB- the issue -RRB- keeps resurfacing over and over again , '' Fukino said . `` It really tells us that the whole conspiracy notion is out there -LRB- and -RRB- that if there is an issue that needs a following , they will find one .

`` No matter what you do or say , it make no difference , '' she said .

Abercrombie , who tried to put an end to the controversy when he became governor , said he hopes that `` people who have this political orientation toward the president respect us here in Hawaii . ''

`` Respect his mother and father , '' the governor urged . `` Respect the people I loved and the people that I knew , and the little boy who grew up here in paradise and became president . ''

That , the evidence suggests , may be easier said than done .

CNN 's Alan Silverleib contributed to this report .

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Ex-Hawaii health official says she has `` no doubt '' President Obama was born in Honolulu

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Obama in 2008 produced a certification of live birth , a legally accepted document

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Obama family acquaintances remember the president 's birth in 1961 in Hawaii

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Some critics of the president continue to express doubts about his country of birth